Memory
by AlterCattus
Summary: Kagome just got from her era for her father's birthday and went back to the Feudal Era shortly after that. She found a weak Kikyou battling a demon of Naraku. She did what she thought was right. But what she did took a very important piece of her...
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, here's the intro for my story.. I think this'll end up being suckish and all that, but I hope this time, it'll be a bit decent. I don't own InuYasha (but I do own a volume 17 of the manga XD.. a gift from a friend.. lol XD) Just telling you to get ready for boredom. My story kinda sucks (what can I do?! I'm a beginner in writing fanfics!).. Haha XD**

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It's a bright and peaceful morning. You can hear the birds chirping, the water trickling down the bamboo pipe, the branches and leaves of the trees swaying lightly in the gentle breeze, the faint morning buzzle of Tokyo City, and some dogs barking. You can hear all these in the Higurashi Shrine. But the most interesting sound that you can hear that morning is the humming of a young girl and some clatters of pots and pans, coming from the kitchen of the Higurashi residence.

Kagome, humming a tune and stirring a pot of stew while waiting for the water in the kettle to boil, is obviously in a good mood. The young girl is smiling so brightly that she might beat the sun in no time. Souta and Grandpa are sitting at the breakfast table, staring intently at Kagome. Finally, Souta spoke up and asked his grandfather.

"Gramps, why is sis so cheerful? It gives me the creeps."

The old man looked like he's analyzing a Sudoku puzzle. Finally, he answered the question of his grandson.

"She's probably possessed by a demon. Or an evil spirit," he concluded.

There was silence. Then the old man stood up.

"I'll go get some of my ofudas. And some ashes," he told Souta and vanished into the hallway.

"I don't think that'll work, Gramps," Souta called, but his grandfather was long gone looking for the ofudas.

"Plus, I don't think she's possessed by anything," Souta told himself.

After a few moments, Souta finally gave up trying to figure out what's the source of Kagome's good mood. He then decided to find out straight from her.

_It won't hurt if I'll ask, right?, _he thought.

_Here goes nothing, _he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and asked.

"Uh, sis? Why are you in such a good mood?"

Kagome stopped humming and faced her brother.

"Why, it's Father's birthday today, Souta. Don't you remember?," Kagome answered.

"Oh, yeah. So that's why Mom takes so long in the bathroom," he muttered.

"Nah, that's just for today. We'll visit him this afternoon," Kagome told him.

Then the humming starts again. Souta sat on his chair, smiling silently at his sister, while Kagome returned to stirring the stew she was cooking. Really, it's a peaceful morning in Tokyo, Japan.

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**There you go. It's all finished. Gosh, I did that for five minutes. No wonder it's too short. Haha. I'll add the next chapter after.. maybe a week (got exams coming up, so don't rush me).. Sorry for being such a bore.. thanks for reading ^^**


	2. Chapter 2

**Heya, people.. Sorry for the wait ^^ here's the second intro for the story :D I hope you like it :D Happy reading ^^

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Back in the Feudal Era, Kaede's village is the same as ever. You can hear the carts' wheels rattling as it rolled along the rocky paths of the village, the neighing of the horses inside their stables, the farmers chatting while plowing the fields, the children happily playing beside the river, the village is indeed peaceful… unless you include the series of sound of something being thrown to the ground every minute.

_**BAM!**_ That's what you'll hear in the meadow east of Kaede's village.

InuYasha was struggling to get up when he was thrown into the ground, again.

_**BAM, BAM, BAM!**_ After being thrown into the ground again and again, InuYasha quickly jumped up from the hole he just made and glared daggers at Shippou, Sango, and Miroku, who were laughing so hard. In their hands were tape recorders.

"Damn, those things! Once I get my hands on those, I'll crush them to pieces!," InuYasha swore, his face red and dotted with stones and dirt.

Everyone stopped laughing for a second, then Miroku pressed a button on his tape recorder and InuYasha was thrown onto the ground… again. And the three resumed their laughing session.

Shippou, no doubt, is having a great time. Well, he's getting his revenge on InuYasha after all. With all the bonks on his head that he received the past few months, he's making him pay at last.

"Okay, let's here that again," Shippou said, and pressed a button on his tape recorder.

"InuYasha! Sit, boy!," Kagome's voice rang clear from the tiny speaker of the tape recorder, and InuYasha once again found himself being thrown into the ground for the fifty-seventh time since the break of dawn.

The three started laughing again while InuYasha sputtered out soil and tiny stones. After they stopped laughing, they resumed to what they were doing… eating breakfast.

InuYasha walked towards the bank of the stream beside the meadow and sat beside Kaede, who is washing a piece of white cloth.

"Ye alright, InuYasha?," Kaede asked the hanyou.

"You think being thrown to the ground more than a dozen times a day -no, a morning,- is alright with me?," InuYasha screamed his answer.

"Respect your elders, InuYasha," Shippou said to him.

InuYasha turned around and pointed an index finger on the young kitsune.

"Ha! You're one to talk! You've thrown me into the ground with the weird contraption for how many times! You think that's respect for elders?," InuYasha yelled at Shippou.

"Indeed." Miroku agreed, sipping a cup of Oolong tea.

InuYasha blinked.

"Miroku… you're agreeing with me?," he asked, dumbfounded.

Miroku took another sip of his tea before answering calmly.

"I agree that this black contraption, whatever it is, is weird." He said, lifting his tape recorder gently, as if it'll break into pieces if he didn't handle it properly.

"But it's pretty useful," the monk added.

InuYasha stared at him in disbelief and looked away.

"And here I was thinking that someone finally agrees with me," he muttered.

"Well, Kagome said that we'll just use those to prevent you from fetching her. She did say that she'll be back in ten days, right?," Sango told InuYasha.

"And it's the ninth day! What's so important there, anyway?," InuYasha screamed again.

Sango thought for a moment.

"She said it's her chichi-hue's birthday." She told the group.

"Oh…" InuYasha fell quiet.

_So that's why_, he thought and looked up at the clear, blue sky.

"She wanted to spend time with her family," he said under his breath.

After a few moments, InuYasha and the group were now enjoying Kaede's cooking. They ate their breakfast heartily under the bright, blue sky, and around them were holes made by InuYasha.

That's a typical morning in the Feudal Era.

Partly peaceful, and partly… well, partly not.

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**And there you go... I know I'm kind of slow but you can't blame me.. In fact, you should be happy.. I just flunked Geometry trying to think up the beginning of this chapter (that's my fatal problem with stories.. I have it planned in my head but I don't know how to start it XD)... lol.. the next chapter will be posted after... uh... a week again! lol.. really, I'm sorry for being slow :D**

**Stay posted for the next chapter! ^^**


	3. Chapter 3

**here it is guys! yes, I said in the previous chapter that the update will be in one week.. but it turned out to be in the 'next three months'.. -_- Sorry! I'm so sorry! I just kinda... forgot and I got distracted by new ideas popping out of my head and stuff... I'm sorry for the late, overly late update. But I hope you like this chapter ^^**

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**Kagome smiled at her father's picture. They were in the cemetery, lighting candles for the deceased man. Kagome's father had the best spot in the peaceful cemetery. His grave was under a cherry-blossom tree, and around him were white irises. There were four flat stones that served as seats and tables in front of his grave, which was perfect for the Higurashi family to sit down on and pray. Souta shined his father's nameplate, Mrs. Higurashi and Kagome's grandpa cleaned the rest of his grave and weeded the irises. Kagome lighted candles for her father.

"Happy birthday, Otou-san." She whispered and smiled at her father's picture just beside his nameplate.

After a while, they settled down to sip tea and eat the cake that they brought.

"Okaa-san, can we give Otou-san a piece?" Souta asked his mother.

"Of course, Souta." The kind woman smiled.

Kagome smiled proudly at her brother who offered cake and tea to their father.

_It's just as if he's not gone at all_, she thought.

They celebrated the birthday of the deceased man in quite a happy way. They prayed, reminisced moments and memories, and spent some time in the cemetery. And when it was time to go home that afternoon, they left with smiles on their faces, leaving Mr. Higurashi with his gentle smile and, sakura blossoms whirling around above his grave and white irises blooming around him.

"Ah, that was fun even though we were the only ones in the cemetery!" Souta exclaimed when they got home.

"Of course it was. Father was there. When he's with us, we're not bored at all." Kagome said, smiling.

"Kagome, it's three now. You don't want to go to the Feudal Era when it's dusk, right? And InuYasha must be waiting impatiently, now." Her mother called in from the kitchen.

"Yes, I'll pack now, Mom!" She replied and headed to her room.

A few minutes later, she's ready to go with her bulging bag, her bow and its quiver full of arrows. She said goodbye to her family and headed to the Bone Eater's Well. She was excited to see her friends in the Feudal Era again, but little did she know that when she climbed out of the other side of the well, she'll not see her friends for a long time.

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While Kagome was in the Modern Era, InuYasha and the group have been busy all day. InuYasha spent the whole morning being thrown to the ground by Miroku, Sango, and Shippo's tape recorders. And in the afternoon, the village was attacked by hordes of demons of all kinds. Majority of the demons were weak and was either slain by InuYasha's Tetsusaiga, Sango's Hiraikotsu, bitten and torn to shreds by Kirara, sucked in by Miroku's Kazaana, or even burned by Shippou's Kitsune-Bai. And little did they know that those youkai were merely decoys to distract them from Naraku's plan… To keep the group away from the Goshinboku tree and the Bone Eater's Well. Especially InuYasha.

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Naraku's plot was simple. He took one of Kikyou's Shinidamachou when Mount Hakurei was still standing. He didn't let it go and it would've been tainted and bathed in Naraku's essence, miasma, and all. But it remained pure. Because he purified it with the help of an innocent child that was so pure it entered the mountain easily before he could. How the soul collector didn't vanish when it neared the holy mountain, no one knows. Maybe because it was in the hands of a very pure person, or maybe not. No one knows, but the soul collector was kept under Naraku's company. He didn't use it for a long time. He was waiting for the right time to use it. He kept it until he discovered the Fuyouheki. And learning the powers of the stone, he quickly knew what he's gonna do with it. But perhaps he planned too much and with one false use, the Fuyouheki was sucked in by Miroku's Kazaana. Naraku waited for opportunities where he can use the soul collector, but he knew that if he doesn't have the right things, opportunities are useless. And he just found out that the right things that he was looking for, were already in his hands…

The Kitosatra was a very powerful barrier seal created by a priestess long ago. It was older than the Shikon no Tama, and it was probably also created by the priestess Midoriko herself. No one knows where the Kitosatra was, when it was made, or who made it. People believed that it was only a myth since no one ever knew, or saw it. But Naraku found it in an abandoned temple, cleverly hidden in the center of a rock in a cave covered by a waterfall near the temple that he found. He found the ancient seal when InuYasha was still sealed in the Goshinboku and decided that he'll save it for later purposes.

And not long after InuYasha and the group destroyed the Fuyouheki, he found another stone, stronger than the smashed sphere. It's the Mabatogaheki, once inside the holy mountain, Mt. Hakurei. The living Buddha, St. Hakushin, was merely a back-up for the strong stone that protected the mountain even before the monk was buried. It remained dormant, however. Until the monk was buried alive and disturbed its slumber. And side by side, without knowing, St. Hakushin and the Mabatogaheki repelled any non-human being from the mountain. Naraku got the stone when an old man went into the ruins of the collapsed mountain, and thought that it was only a big, perfectly round rock and threw it aside, accidentally bonking one of his failed minions in the head, who was searching for something useful in the mountain as well and offered it to Naraku. And learning the powers of it, he also saved it up for later purposes. He knew that he has the right materials for his scheme, now. He just needs an opportunity.

Shortly after Kagome left for the Modern Era, Kagura, the wind sorceress that she is, spotted Kikyou and her Shinidamachou heading for InuYasha's Forest in Kaede's Village. After Kagura reported it to Naraku, he just smirked and turned to the soul collector whirling above his head. He's got his opportunity that he was waiting for.

A day before Kikyou approached InuYasha's Forest, Naraku set the captured soul collector free and let it return to the priestess, with a very huge soul in its thin legs. Kikyou has many of those, so she didn't even notice one was missing…or when one returned. And when Kikyou arrived in the forest and went in the Goshinboku tree, the soul collector dropped the soul that it was holding. But it was not a soul. Well, not entirely. Inside the soul was the Mabatogaheki, and when it dropped to the ground, it glowed and Naraku suddenly materialized in the air. It turns out that Mabatogaheki was like the Fuyouheki but stronger and more powerful. It generates a barrier and at the same time, erases any aura and essence of anything. The soul collector that Naraku used enabled him to follow Kikyou and at the same time, generate a barrier to trap Kikyou inside with him, and block anyone from the outside. It was a perfect plan to destroy the priestess whom Naraku once took in liking, as Onigumo. Without Kikyou, he can easily destroy InuYasha. It all falls in line. He'll kill Kikyou, InuYasha will be devastated and will pursue him even more, not because of the Shikon Shards but for revenge, Kagome will get heartbroken, and the group falls apart. And when are not united, he can destroy them easily and get the Shikon Shards for himself. It was a simple but perfect plan, that's what he thought.

Once he and Kikyou were inside the barrier with the Mabatogaheki, Kagura pinned the Kitosatra on a tree in the border of Kaede's village and InuYasha's Forest. Of course, Kagura carried the barrier seal high in the sky, and she didn't hold it in her hand. Instead, she let a gust of wind carry the barrier seal to the tree and had a very strong wind pin it. Without her scent on the seal, InuYasha can't sense it and he won't go to it. And while InuYasha and the others were battling the demons, Naraku is ready to end Kikyou's life, just like he did fifty years ago. No one interferes, no one will spoil it. What a perfect plan it is… With just one flaw that he didn't include in his calculations. He knew Kagome's gone for a few days. He just didn't know when she'll return.

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**that's what I have so far. it's a little messed up, I know...Yes, I know you want to kill me for updating so late and it's so short, but I assure you that I'll put the next chapter up as soon as possible. and tell me what you think! Thanks for reading it ^^ **


	4. Chapter 4

hey there, my dear readers. I was planning to update my stories during my summer break but I was unable to because of some... unfortunate events. My laptop died recently. I know I'm not supposed to make this an excuse (I know it's unreasonable and stupid) but I tried. I wrote at least one chapter for each of my stories but my laptop went bonkers (for the nth time) and died. My laptop has been dropped by my dad two years ago just several days after it got purchased and it started going bonkers after the incident. I'm quite thankful that it still lasted two years because I wouldn't have imagined it surviving that long, but it happened. And in those two years, I wrote my first chapter of an attempt on writing fanfiction and continued writing, had my scripts for school projects written, made countless videos for school projects, typed and researched my torture of an Investigatory Project, had it save me from low grades by having it rush my papers, downloaded lots of programs/videos/softwares/pictures/and random stuff, had saved my ass from school researches and had my life revolve around it. It was a precious laptop (my bestfriend). But alas, its time came, taking all my beloved files with it. I know it's officially dead because I had it "hospitalized" (yeah, I'm treating it as a person) several times and it still continued on dying slowly (cancer? lol). So, I will try to at least salvage my files from my deceased friend and had it temporarily stored in my family's computer (with no Internt connection :C ) until I move on and find a new bestfriend (which, in other words, until I save up for a new laptop). So I guess I'll still be the slowpoke writer. I'm really sorry, guys. I know I've left you hanging and disappointed, and I understand if you flame me and unfollow my stories. I just hope that you can find it in your heart to understand my situation. With my Junior year coming with torturous subjects (like Geometry, Analytic Geometry, Chemistry, and Physics) in less than two weeks, I don't have time to write again for a long time. But I promise you, when I have time and a space in Internet shops (and I successfully salvaged my files), I will update to your heart's content. Thank you for reading this :)

-luckylyra827


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